


Give Me Therapy

by omnomeevee



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Depression, F/M, Manic Episode, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-24
Updated: 2019-06-24
Packaged: 2020-05-18 15:23:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19337251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/omnomeevee/pseuds/omnomeevee
Summary: Serenity has an episode. Mark helps the best he can.





	Give Me Therapy

“Ren, slow down.” Mark calls from the bed as Seren is fumbling through the mess of papers she ended up creating. She doesn’t hear him talking. “You’re not gonna be able to organize it if you keep flipping through the same things over and over…” He takes a deep breath in as he leans over the bed to grab Seren’s arm. “Hey, look at me.”

Ren snaps out of it and turns to Mark, her face flustered and red and her eyes welled with tears. Mark gets up off the bed to sit down next to her and pulled her close to him. She curls into his chest and he can feel the tears on his shirt. He doesn’t say anything though. They sit for what seems like a few hours and Mark gently cradles Seren as he rests her in bed. He tucks her hair out of her face as she’s sleeping. He’s only seen her like this a handful of times, but he knows what’s happening.

The next few days are a mess of emotion.

One day Seren goes to the kitchen while everyone is out and takes everything out of the cabinets and reorganizes it all. She climbs on counters and feverishly jumps around as she is deciding what things need to go where. Even though things were right where they were supposed to be. There needed to be a change, or else it would drive Seren nuts. Mark assisted her, holding her softly when she needed to get off the counters, placing things up high for her, because that particular thing just had to go on the top shelf. When something was off, Seren would throw her head back and run her hands over her face. Every time, Mark would be there to tell her that it looked fine, but if it _needed_ to be moved he would help her. He’d pull her aside to make sure she had eaten. He cooked the meal, even if it wasn’t the most elaborate thing, just to make sure she didn’t run on fumes. He assured everyone that she was okay when they get home and she was already asleep.

Next she cleans the whole house. She dusts, mobs, vacuums. The kitchen is spotless and the bathrooms look cleaner than they did when they moved in. Mark sticks close by to her, knowing that at any moment she can get overwhelmed. She’s on a quest to ease her mind and he wishes she had another way to do so, but he hasn’t figured out how to help her more. He stops her when she tries to go about and fix all the picture frames that are scattered on the walls, sitting her down to talk to her. He knows her mind is racing, but he remembers her saying someone talking about something else can distract her from being so frantic. He talks to her softly, focused on her breathing as she starts to take a few more fuller breaths. He sees how tired she is and lays down with her on the couch, pulling her onto his chest. Humming softly so she can hear the rumble of his voice as she laid there. He doesn’t move for the night, and he doesn’t sleep all too well either. As long as Seren was sleeping, he was okay with it.

She gets fixated on one task and will agonize over it for hours. Mark knows he can’t snap her out of it sometimes, so he patiently waits until she addresses him. She started looking through their room and would sit and flip through old notebooks. She couldn’t throw them out on her own, and tries to find reasons for Mark to let her keep them. He talks her through keeping pages she likes, and tossing the rest. She gets caught up in reading old diaries, reliving some of the moments in her past. Mark lets her ramble to him about the entries. When she snaps out of that, she realizes the mess she’s made with no sort of progress in cleaning and starts to panic. Mark can see her chest fall deep and quick so he takes her hand to give her a different sensation to focus on. Seren looks at him wide eyes and near tears.

“I’m sorry..” She whispers, shifting her weight.

“No, I am. I wish I could help more..” Mark rubs his thumbs on her hands, knowing it's comforting to her. She inches closer to him, curling on to his lap. He nuzzles into her, leaning back on the bed to lay down. For the night, she feels back to normal. Mark knows the worst part is just around the corner.

She starts to sleep in for longer periods of time. She doesn’t change out of her pajamas and stops doing her daily routine. Mark checks on her every hour or so, most of the time seeing her sitting around staring into space or sleeping. He crawls into bed beside her and talks to her, even though she’s not talking back to him. He feels a pain in his chest and he swallows back tears. He’s worried. He knows this passes, but every time it happens, he worries. She’ll get up and wander into the kitchen, grab a snack and sit and eat slowly. Mark shoots a look at anyone who tries to say anything to her, knowing that she doesn’t want to talk. Each night he holds Seren close, making sure to let her know he isn’t going anywhere, even when she’s like this. He sleeps lightly, wanting to be able to wake up when Seren starts to toss and turn. Even in sleep, sometimes she can’t catch a break. Mark is tired, but he wants to be there to help her.

When Seren sleeps the day away, Mark knows he can’t do this alone anymore. It’s the last straw when she refuses food. He calls up Jungwoo, who has dealt with these episodes before, to come and see if he can help him. Jungwoo consuls an exhausted Mark, telling him that this passes, even though he already knows this. Jungwoo lets him know that he just wants to remind Mark, because he knows how worried he is. He’s been in Mark’s shoes, as her best friend. He can’t imagine how he feels being her boyfriend.

“Have you brought up therapy?” Jungwoo hums, biting the inside of his lip.

“She gets nervous thinking about it.” Mark replies, sighing. “I just want her to be able to have something to focus on. These episodes happen when I’m home but what happens if one happens when we’re not here?” Mark’s tired eyes well with tears when he thinks about her dealing with it alone.

“What about another pet?” Jungwoo suggests. Mark looks up, pressing his hands under his eyes to stop himself from crying. He had thought about it before. He knows that Seren loves dogs and gets excited about them when she sees them on the streets, even though Blu is home. But he also knows she’s wanted a kitten of her own since she had to leave her cat. The house was pretty full, but cat may not be too much of a hassle to accommodate.

Mark nods his head. “Yeah, maybe.” He nods again, looking at Jungwoo, “Do you think you can stay with Ren? I’m gonna go and talk to everyone else about it.”

Mark runs around trying to catch everyone when they aren’t super busy. Taeyong is fine with it, he loves animals, so the more, the merrier. Winwin is excited, Doyoung is happy to be able to pet this one without it toppling him over and Johnny is pretty ecstatic. Mark didn’t tell them how worried about Seren he is sometimes, as not to worry them too. He knows they know she has these episodes, but he doesn’t know how much she’s told them. She tends to keep it to herself. It took her over a year to confide in him about them. He rested for a bit outside and texts the girls to make sure they’re all okay with it too, even though he knows all of them will be. He takes a second to sit for himself. He tries to not get overwhelmed with emotion when this happens. It’s hard on him sometimes, but he never thinks about quitting. He’s willing to be there for her during these stages for the rest of his life.

Getting home, Jungwoo has been able to draw Seren out of her room for the first time in a day or so. Mark lets out a small, shaky sigh seeing her sitting there, hair a mess, his baggy shirt hanging off her shoulder, feet up on the bar stool, knees to her chest. Her heavy eyes shift from Jungwoo to Mark as he walks into the kitchen. Her expression softens, giving a small smile. Mark smiles back, putting his hand behind her head and pressing his lips on her forehead. He pulls back and rested his forehead on hers. He closes his eyes and stays there for a second. “How are you feeling today, love?” He speaks softly.

Seren nods, feeling a bit more like her normal self, just far more tired. “Where did you go?” She questions, her voice quiet, not for any other reason but the fact that she was surprised to see Jungwoo here when she woke up. Mark knows she worries when he leaves.

“I had to ask everyone an important question.” He Looks at Jungwoo, “Thanks for staying with her, it went well.”

Jungwoo gets up form where he’s sitting, giving the other two a hug. “Good, I’m glad. Mine and Ren’s conversation went well too.” He smiles at her and she smiles back, nodding knowing she’ll have to talk to Mark about it too. “I’ll see you guys later, okay?” Woo says, as he walks towards the door.

“Thanks again.” Mark calls back to him.

“No problem, I love you guys!” Jungwoo says as he shuts the door behind him.

“Therapy.. I’ll try going..” Seren says, before Mark can even turn around and look at her.

“Really?” He sits across from her, taking her hands into his across the table. “Jungwoo was about to get you to talk about it, I see.” He’s not surprised. Jungwoo had a way with Seren that sometimes he couldn’t understand. Maybe it was because he was so soft spoken, she never felt threatened by his suggestions.

“Will you go with me? When I ask the doctor for a referral?” Seren’s voice is shaky, and Mark gets up, holding on to her.

“Of course.” He kisses her forehead again, then rests his chin on her head. “I’ll go with you then I think I know the perfect thing to do after.”

“What is that?”

“It’s a surprise.”

Seren makes an appointment to go and talk to her doctor and Mark is by her side throughout the whole process. Talking on the phone, reassuring her that what she’s saying is making sense. Walking into the doctor's office, hand in hand, making sure she knows he’s right there and that she isn’t doing this alone. His hand rests on her knee when she starts to talk and bounce her leg in the room. She grabs on to his index finger when he does, looking at the doctor as he asks her questions. She was nervous, but having Mark there made her thoughts stay in line. When they walk out, Mark kisses Seren’s cheek.

“I’m proud of you..” He whispers, kissing her again. “Now that that’s done, let’s go look at the kittens at the shelter.”

Seren smiles and her eyes light up. She had worked at the shelter a few times before, and loved going to see the animals and it made her heart warm when one of the long time residents got adopted. Mark still hadn’t told her she was going to be talking one home by the end of their visit.

He had looked at the listings the few days prior to the doctor’s appointment, and he noticed how quickly the kittens came and went. Every time he went on to see if a particular one he liked was still there, it would be gone. Then he saw the perfect cat. He knew Seren would love him, so he filled an application on line and he was ready to come home with them. When they got to the shelter, Seren took her time looking around. She said hello to some of the dogs she remembered, talked to a few old coworkers (Which mark hushed before they spoiled the surprise), and finally went into the cat room after about a half hour. Mark bit back a smile when he saw the small cat in his cage at the end of the room.

Seren said hello to each one, giving them impromptu nicknames as they rubbed against the grates of the doors. She’d point out names, giggle at some of the cute ways the workers had personified them in the I.D. cards and smacked at Mark’s legs a few times when she was on the lower cages. Then, Seren found him. The small grey and white little cat, tucked in his bed. One ear had a small notch in it and the other was slightly flopped over. Mark was almost positive Seren was about to start crying when she saw him. “Oh, Mark I want to hold him..” She cooed, looking at his I.D.

“Why don’t you ask?” Mark smiled, knowing what was going to happen.

Seren pouted, pointing to the small slip of paper on the cage, covering the small creatures name, that said in large letters ADOPTED. “He’s got a home, I don’t want to get attached.”

“Well that’s a shame..” Mark started, looking at Seren, who has now sat on the floor, sticking her fingers through the openings of the cage to pet the cat. “He might get lonely at home if you don’t get attached to him..”

“What?” Seren shoots a look at Mark, eyes wide with excitement, “Please don’t say sike.”

“Nope. Asher is ours to take home.”

“Asher?” Seren says, now taking the ADOPTED tag off to look at his name. “That’s not what this says.”

“I know, I chose a new name for him.”

Mark calls someone over to get the cat out and they get all ready and head out with Seren’s new friend, and the first animal that they’ve gotten together. In the car, Seren turns to Mark. “What’s his name mean?” She knows there’s a reason, and she knows she’s right when a big smile runs across his face.

“Happiness.”


End file.
